WBO Strips Sergio Martinez of Middleweight Title
It’s been less than a month since Sergio Martinez systematically beat Kelly Pavlik to claim the WBO middleweight title, and the Argentine boxer has already lost the title. However, the belt wasn’t lost in the ring but thanks to boxing politics. ESPN reports that Martinez was stripped of the middleweight championship earlier this week by WBO officials, citing by-laws concerning fighters who hold multiple titles.
The issue came about because Martinez is also the WBC middleweight and junior middleweight title. According to WBO rules, fighters cannot hold a WBO title in a certain weight class if they also are champions of another organization in a different weight class. The organization had given Martinez 10 days to make a decision on which belt he wanted to keep before stripping him of the belt.
The decision left Martinez disappointed but not shocked. He said that he has come to understand how the politics of boxing work and that an organization like the WBO simply “loans” fighters belts that can be taken back at any time. However, he also said that he feels as though he is still the real WBO middleweight titlist and that anyone who wins a bout for the now-vacant crown can’t truly call himself the champion.
While Martinez was fairly diplomatic about the decision, his manager Lou DiBella was anything but, ripping the WBO for - in his words - shooting itself in the foot. DiBella pointed out that WBO by-laws allow for fighters to hold multiple championships in different weight classes from different organizations for longer than 10 days if they are waiting to make a decision on which belt to keep. The WBO chose not to let Martinez exercise this option, only giving him 10 days from the Pavlik fight to make up his mind.
DiBella contends that the decision by the WBO was rash and served no purpose. According to him, there are few legitimate contenders within the organization’s top 10 middleweights who would be ready to fight for the title any time soon. Without a pressing need for action, DiBella argued, there was no need for the WBO to force Martinez’s hand and strip him of the title.
According to Martinez’s advisor Sampson Lewkowicz, much of the problems in choosing which belt to keep stem from a lack of movement with HBO, which is contractually obligated to show one more fight of Martinez’s by the end of the year. Lewkowicz has complained in the past that HBO has not made Martinez’s career a top commitment and said that it was up to the network’s preferences to determine when Martinez would fight again and at one weight class. Lewkowicz said that the WBC has been much more patient than the WBO in terms of giving Martinez time to make a decision on which weight class to fight at moving forward.
Of course, this all might be a moot point if certain things fall into place for Martinez. Specifically, Lewkowicz told FightHype.com on Wednesday that Martinez is now the “Plan B” opponent for Floyd Mayweather Jr. if negotiations for his mega fight against Manny Pacquiao fall apart. Lewkowicz believes that Martinez is now in the “top three” fighters that fans want to see - along with Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao - and that he should be treated as such. While Martinez is a successful and popular fighter, it’s certainly a stretch for Lewkowicz to claim that his career is anywhere near the level of either of the other two fighters. However, it appears that Martinez received a raw deal from the WBO - which had ironically named him their “Fighter of the Month” at the beginning of May.
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